Note: I wrote this on Sunday, September 4, and submitted for possible publication. That didn't pan out, so I thought I'd put it up on the blog, but have had a busy week and am just getting to it now. Hope you enjoy!
Saturday, on a sun-scorched field on Governor’s Island in New York, thousands of hip-hop faithful turned out to witness the latest incarnation of Rock The Bells, a tour that in its eighth year has become the holy grail of hip-hop festivals. It has raised the stakes the past two years with one important change -- having the headlining artists perform their classic albums in their entirety.
“That’s like the second time we’ve done that song in 10 years.” Talib Kweli, after performing “Hater Players”
Bands performing albums in their entirety is certainly nothing new in the music world. Whether it be tribute performances, live shows at festivals such as South By Southwest, All Tomorrow’s Parties and the Pitchfork Music Festival, or even as a tool of self-promotion, performing whole albums serves as both a treat for devoted fans and a primer for uninitiated or casual ones. But it is not something that is common in hip-hop. The Genius/GZA has performed Liquid Swords live for years -- he even built a tour around it in 2008 -- and Public Enemy has performed It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (and is also slated to perform Fear of A Black Planet) -- live, but neither has ever been accused of existing inside the mainstream mold of hip-hop.
Last year, the festival was headlined by hip-hop force Wu-Tang Clan, who performed their seminal work Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s first-born son, who goes by both “Boy Jones” and “Young Dirty Bastard,” and is the spitting image of his late father, performed his parts). Raekwon the Chef said it was the first time the group would perform the whole album live, while The GZA elaborated that the group would prepare for the show by actually rehearsing, something he claimed they had done only three times in their nearly 20 years as a collective. Also performing full albums were Rakim (Paid In Full), KRS-1 (Criminal Minded), Slick Rick (The Great Adventures of Slick Rick), Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle) and A Tribe Called Quest (Midnight Marauders). Lauryn Hill was rumored to be on the bill, but was instead a special guest, performing only selections of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill rather than the whole work in full. With such a tour de force lineup, and a demanding set of performances, the number of destinations was pared down noticeably, from 10-16 in previous years to just four. This year the destinations included Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston. Promoters Guerilla Union had a tall task in trying to top the bill from last year’s festival, but if they didn’t top it, they came damn close.
“This is the first time me and Nas gon’ do this shit on stage.” MC Serch, before joining Nas for Serch’s “Back To The Grill.”
In 2005, MTV named Paid In Full the greatest hip-hop album of all-time. Number two was Illmatic, the debut album from one Nasir Jones, better known to the masses as Nas. But while everyone in the late ‘80’s was no doubt influenced by Paid In Full, the number of MC’s who were influenced by Illmatic likely dwarf that. Nas is also more relevant these days than Rakim, as he is still pumping out hits, and this was to be the first time he performed the album live. Co-headlining with the Queensbridge legend was Ms. Hill, who the promoters locked down this year to perform Miseducation in its entirety. Also prominent on the bill were Cypress Hill (performing Black Sunday), Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star), GZA (Liquid Swords), Mobb Deep (The Infamous), Raekwon and Ghostface Killah (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx) and Erykah Badu (Baduizm). Newbies Curren$y and Mac Miller got top billing on the west coast leg, and Common (Be) did every stop but New York.
Never mind the headliners, the prime cuts of that undercard are monster-sized. Anytime hardcore hip-hop heads can see GZA, Raekwon and Ghostface on the same day it’s a good day, to say nothing of Cypress Hill, Badu or Mos Def and Talib Kweli. But most of them tour constantly. The same cannot be said for Mobb Deep, who had not toured together in three years thanks to Prodigy’s incarceration. Even before that, their mostly underground status -- though legendary in the five boroughs -- generally precluded them from big shows like Rock The Bells, and as a result, many diehard fans had never seen them live. They did not disappoint. While they strayed from The Infamous at will and weren’t joined by collaborators like Raekwon, Nas, Ghostface or Lil' Kim (Big Noyd was there of course, rocking an updated version of the crew’s old “Hennessy” jerseys), but they kept their set at a fevered pitch, crushing some of the greatest hits in their catalog, concluding with what is probably the greatest underground hip-hop song of all-time, “Shook Ones, Part Two.” The crowd -- many of whom had been on their feet at that point for seven-plus hours -- left energized. They would need that energy as the festival drew to a close.
Despite speculation in the crowd, Hill did take the stage for her set, and though she seemed thoroughly annoyed with her mic at points, she turned the crowd out. After seemingly drawing her performance to a close with hit “Everything Is Everything,” Hill stunned the crowd. Last year, she brought out several hip-hop and R&B luminaries who were in attendance at the New York show, but none performed with her. This year, she brought back former band mate Pras Michel, with whom she had not been seen with in public since 2006. Together, they performed “Fu-Gee-La,” “Ready Or Not” and “Killing Me Softly,” during which Hill broke from character even further by bringing her children onto stage to share the moment with her. It was a moment that seemed like it would be hard to top. Nas, however, was up to the challenge.
Nas has anointed himself with several personas through the years, but when he started, he was Nasty Nas, and that fire was evident from the beginning. After album intro “Genesis” played, he launched into “New York State Of Mind.” The crowd hung on every word, and when Nas turned the mic to the crowd they bellowed the bars, none louder than the priceless quip “I never sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death.”
Like Black Star earlier in the day, Nas would burn through each track of the album in order, but unlike Black Star (who did add a couple of hits at the end of their set) Nas detoured from the album twice to pay his respects. The first time was following “The World Is Yours,” when peerless DJ’s Premier and Pete Rock engaged in a lengthy DJ battle. Then, following “Memory Lane,” Nas brought MC Serch to the stage. Nas credited Serch for giving him a shot when he was still young in the game with the song “Back To The Grill,” which they performed to monster effect. Joe Fatal, Large Professor and Akinyele then jumped on stage to perform the song that Nas first appeared on, “Live At The BBQ,” from Main Source’s Breaking Atoms, with the Aktapuss sticking around to thrill the crowd with his cult fave “Put It In Your Mouth.”
The posse cuts seemed to give Nas new life, as he sped through the last few cuts off Illmatic before delighting the crowd with several of his singles, including his new joint “Nasty,” “Hate Me Now,” and “Nas Is Like,” before capping the festivities sooner than he would have liked with the banger “Made You Look” (to his credit, he kept claiming he didn’t want to stop, and looked ready to perform far deeper into the night. This may have been the fault of the crew who set up the stage for him, as they seemingly took forever to set up the most basic props and thus pushed the beginning of Nas’ set closer to the show’s end time.). The crowd was treated by the presence of Steve Nash, who was brought on stage, and giddily danced with the rest of Nas’ crew. He even brought Hill back out for “If I Ruled The World (Imagine That),” though Hill’s mic was once again not working properly.
As will always be the case with a show of this magnitude, mic problems were the bugaboo of the day, as Hill wasn’t alone in that respect. It was one of a few issues that cropped up, though the most notable issue was that with three main stages, fans had some very hard decisions to make -- in particular having to choose between Nas and Raekwon and Ghostface for the final act (My cohorts and I picked the following schedule -- Random Axe, Black Star, GZA, Mobb Deep, Lauryn Hill and Nas, breaking for dinner between GZA and Mobb Deep. This meant missing several acts -- more than a full day’s worth -- that we would have liked to have seen, such as Donald Glover/Childish Gambino, Masta Killa, Slaughterhouse, Evidence and of course, Raekwon and Ghostface.). But just as there were unexpected potholes, the unexpected performances from The RZA, Serch, Akinyele, as well as the DJ battle between Premo and The Chocolate Boy Wonder more than balanced the scales.
Recently, Watch The Throne and Tha Carter IV set records for album downloads, but far too frequently these days, we consume music song by song rather album by album. With the cost of music so low, fans are increasingly hesitant to pay to see even the best artists live. By applying the whole album formula for its largest acts, Rock The Bells has hit the sweet spot of giving fans a unique experience that is also well worth the money, and it has brought out the best of its performers. As an added bonus, they have rekindled the love for the long player, something that in today’s 140 characters or less world is a welcome respite. Stuck off the realness, indeed.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Moving Forward, Falling Behind
Tumultuous: Marked by tumult: loud, excited and emotional.
That's pretty much the way I would describe my move back to Massachusetts. Without going into too much detail, it's been four months since I left Denver, and I can still hardly believe it. But between raising Xander, figuring out a routine with two new jobs, trying to get even more additional freelance work, getting the house packed up, moving back in with my parents, dealing with some serious family medical issues, moving out of my parents' house, getting settled in a new apartment and exploring our new surroundings, I somehow fell behind on my music purchases.
Two weeks ago, I was trying to cajole a friend on Instant Messenger into buying tickets to the "Rock The Bells" show in New York that I'm heading out to in a couple of weeks, and he mentioned that he probably wasn't going to that, but that he was working on getting "Watch The Throne" tickets. I stared at the screen blankly, not knowing what "Watch The Throne" was. When he explained what pretty much the entire planet already knew -- Jay-Z and Kanye West made an album together and are going on tour together to perform it. I knew if this had slipped past my radar that I really needed to redouble my efforts on the music front.
I had been saving a couple of Amazon gift cards, and I tore into them a little bit last night. I picked up Adele's "Rolling In The Deep," Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass," the Bad Meets Evil album and "Watch The Throne." I haven't listened to Bad Meets Evil yet at all, and the others have only gotten one listen. I'll be back (hopefully) later with comments on all of them. I also have made a lengthy list of releases that I need to catch up on since the start of the year (I think the only other album I've bought all year was the Raekwon "Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang" disc -- which, while solid, was underwhelming when compared to Only Bulit For Cuban Linx II and when you take into account how much he hyped it on his Twitter account).
I've always told myself that I would never fall out of touch with music, and after getting my first taste of being out of touch I can tell you that I did not care for it one bit -- even if I had valid reasons for falling behind. But now that we've moved forward, fear not selfless reader, I will not fall behind again.
That's pretty much the way I would describe my move back to Massachusetts. Without going into too much detail, it's been four months since I left Denver, and I can still hardly believe it. But between raising Xander, figuring out a routine with two new jobs, trying to get even more additional freelance work, getting the house packed up, moving back in with my parents, dealing with some serious family medical issues, moving out of my parents' house, getting settled in a new apartment and exploring our new surroundings, I somehow fell behind on my music purchases.
Two weeks ago, I was trying to cajole a friend on Instant Messenger into buying tickets to the "Rock The Bells" show in New York that I'm heading out to in a couple of weeks, and he mentioned that he probably wasn't going to that, but that he was working on getting "Watch The Throne" tickets. I stared at the screen blankly, not knowing what "Watch The Throne" was. When he explained what pretty much the entire planet already knew -- Jay-Z and Kanye West made an album together and are going on tour together to perform it. I knew if this had slipped past my radar that I really needed to redouble my efforts on the music front.
I had been saving a couple of Amazon gift cards, and I tore into them a little bit last night. I picked up Adele's "Rolling In The Deep," Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass," the Bad Meets Evil album and "Watch The Throne." I haven't listened to Bad Meets Evil yet at all, and the others have only gotten one listen. I'll be back (hopefully) later with comments on all of them. I also have made a lengthy list of releases that I need to catch up on since the start of the year (I think the only other album I've bought all year was the Raekwon "Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang" disc -- which, while solid, was underwhelming when compared to Only Bulit For Cuban Linx II and when you take into account how much he hyped it on his Twitter account).
I've always told myself that I would never fall out of touch with music, and after getting my first taste of being out of touch I can tell you that I did not care for it one bit -- even if I had valid reasons for falling behind. But now that we've moved forward, fear not selfless reader, I will not fall behind again.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
2010 Holiday Mixes Explained
I feel like I have a lot of blogging to catch up on - updating my favorite movies list, looking at how I did with my NFL regular season picks, discussing my annual post-Christmas music shopping spree, talking baseball and probably some other stuff. But I need to get the holiday mixes off my chest.
For the fifth consecutive year, I made a double disc holiday mix collection for some close friends and family. I do it for two reasons. First, as far back as I can remember, I've loved making mix tapes; compiling the best of what I've been listening to into one handy tape or cd. And I've always loved sharing these mixes with other people, and people seem to enjoy them, which is nice. Second, as I get older, I have less and less time to devote to music. So doing these holiday mixes is kind of like a year-in-review for me. I can dive in in late November, figure out what have been my favorite, and/or the best tracks of the year. I split the mixes into "Underground," which is mostly underground hip-hop, and what I call "Aboveground," which is popular music. On the underground disc it's anything goes, though I try to use actual singles, rather than just picking random tracks I like. On the aboveground mix though, I try to keep it to records that went gold (500k sold) and/or were on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at some point during the year. I'd say I stick to those guidelines about 95% of the time. My only other rule, which I am a fantastic stickler about, is that the song had to come out in 2010. So many songs become popular the year after they are released, and I don't like to include those. If you weren't good enough to get popular right when it came out, well, them's the brakes.
This year, the aboveground mix was pretty hip-hop heavy. Drake and Nicki Minaj were everywhere, and had to be represented. Drake gets on three tracks and Nicki on two, one of their own, with the others being guest shots. Even though he's from Pittsburgh, and the song is about Pittsburgh colors, I loved Wiz Khalifa's "Black & Yellow" for two reasons. One, it's awesome when people pen songs like that about their city, it'd be nice if someone could make a track half as good about Boston ("Dirty Water" is great and all, but it'd be nice to have a newer anthem for the city). Second, black and yellow are the colors of the Boys & Girls Club branch I volunteer at, and all the kids there love the song, which it makes it a little more special to me. One late addition to the mix ended up being a great one - Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How To Dougie." It's easy to discount this as a party jam, but the lyrics on it are actually pretty good. We'll have to see how they follow it up. Another last minute add was Dr. Dre's "Kush," featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon. Let's hope this is the year that Detox finally gets released.
The mix isn't all hip-hop though. I led the mix off with Shakira's "Waka Waka," the World Cup theme song. I figure that we are going to remember this year for the riveting World Cup, and it's such a good song, so it deserved to lead off. Elsewhere, Rihanna made the cut once again with "What's My Name," the fourth straight year she is on the mix - tied for longest streak ever with Jay-Z and Kanye West. I also had to tip my hat to Taylor Swift and throw "Mine" in the mix, something that absolutely shocked my wife. And you know I had to place her song right before Kanye's!
Speaking of Mr. West, he once again scored a song, with "Monster." Kanye is the all-time leader in the aboveground mix, with a total of seven songs. I also considered "Power," "All of the Lights" and "Runaway" for this slot, but "Power" just doesn't have the X-factor, "All of the Lights" wasn't yet a single, and "Runaway" is just too long. Plus, the unanimous verse of the year was Nicki Minaj's verse on "Monster," so I had to have it on there.
Some songs that just missed the cut were Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me," Michael Jackson & Akon's "Hold My Hand," Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It," Trey Songz' "Bottoms Up" and The Roots & John Legend's "Wake Up Everybody." The only tough decision was Flo Rida, and after I saw him perform on New Year's Eve at MTV, I was glad I left him off. He's really just not good. I give him another year or two, tops. MJ I left off because while the song came out in 2010, it was obviously recorded a few years ago. It just didn't feel right to include it.
Here's the track listing for the "Aboveground Mix:"
1. Shakira - Waka Waka
2. B.O.B. - Airplanes f/ Hayley Williams
3. Katy Perry - California Gurls f/ Snoop Dogg
4. Wiz Khalifa - Black & Yellow
5. Waka Flocka Flame - No Hands f/ Wale & Roscoe Dash
6. Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie
7. Taylor Swift - Mine
8. Kanye West - Monster f/ Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver
9. Rihanna - What's My Name f/ Drake
10. Far East Movement - Like A G6
11. Big Boi - Shutterbugg f/ Cutty
12. Cee-Lo - F**k You
13. Drake - Find Your Love
14. Nicki Minaj - Right Thru Me
15. Janelle Monae - Tightrope f/ Big Boi
16. Pitbull - Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor) f/ T-Pain
17. Lloyd Banks - Beamer, Benz or Bentley f/ Juelz Santana
18. Lil' Wayne - Right Above It f/ Drake
19. Dr. Dre - Kush f/ Snoop Dogg & Akon
20. Eminem - Not Afraid
The underground mix can sometimes be a grind for me. Back in the day, I'd just go to Hip Zepi if I was in Boston, or Fat Beats if I was in New York, I would ask the man behind the counter what's hot, drop $20-$80, and I'd have all the latest and greatest on the underground circuit. Easy. Now, you have to comb the internet to really distinguish between what's good and what isn't. I trust a few sites to guide me - Pitchfork and HipHopDX more than any others. But while it can sometimes be a painstaking process, this was not one of those times. I actually had a much easier time of it this year than usual. Maybe I kept up better this year, who knows.
Over the years, I have included about 40% more artists on the underground mix as on the aboveground mix, which makes sense. The people that dominate the pop charts simply don't turn over as quickly. But the mainstays on the underground have been the Wu-Tang. Raekwon has been on the mix every year, and a mix-topping eight times overall. Ghostface Killah has been on six times, good for second-highest, and Method Man a respectable four times as well. They all get on on the same track this year, their group effort "Our Dreams," which was produced by The RZA and featured a Michael Jackson sample.
The mix leads off with Aloe Blacc's "I Need A Dollar," which was the theme song to HBO's summer hit "How To Make It In America." Next up was J. Cole, who we should hear a lot more from in 2011 now that he is signed to Def Jam, with "Who Dat," the one song he currently has that is available for purchase. Next was Lil' Kim's "Black Friday," a diss record referring to Nicki Minaj's LP "Pink Friday." This may have been Nicki's year, but Nicki definitely fed her hype through her beef with Kim, and Kim absolutely slays her on this track. Hopefully this will be a good (but non-violent) beef for awhile.
Overall, the mix had two different vibes. On the one hand, there are three tributes to Keith Elam, better known as Guru from Gangstarr, who passed away this year. That was terrible, and since he's a Bostonian, I had to represent a little bit extra for him. On the other hand, there were several uplifting/lighthearted songs, such as the Wu-Tang track, Maino's "Hold On," Cypress Hill's "Armada Latina," and Statik Selektah's & Termanology's "Wedding Bells." That Massachusetts duo dropped hard in 2010, and hopefully there will be more good things to come from them. Another favorite Mass duo - 7L & Esoteric - finally returned this year, and they did so with Inspectah Deck, who helped bless their first LP nearly ten years ago. Their track, "12th Chamber," is lovely. One more Bostonian who made the cut was newcomer Dutch ReBelle, whose LP also is slated to drop in 2011. I'm excited for that one.
I always try to get one really good transfer on the underground mix, which is difficult when you're just burning these mixes in iTunes, as opposed to using real recording equipment. But in any case, I think I pulled off a good one with the transfer from Wale's "The War" to Kno's "Spread Your Wings." The first time I heard that, I knew it was seamless.
As always, the mix closes with a bonus Christmas track. Since Christmas music usually sucks and is also timeless, I waive the 2010-only rule for this song only. I've already heard rave reviews about this year's track, Tha Dogg Pound's "Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto." It's just a whole lot of awesomeness, if you've never heard it, you should check it out.
Here's the track listing for the underground mix:
1. Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar
2. J. Cole - Who Dat
3. Lil' Kim - Black Friday
4. Jay Electronica - The Ghost of Christopher Wallace f/ Diddy
5. Freddie Gibbs - National Anthem (F**k The World)
6. Fat Joe - I'm Gone
7. Celph Titled & Buckwild - There Will Be Blood f/ Sadat X, Grand Puba, AG, OC & Diamond D
8. Maino - Hold On f/ Mya
9. Method Man, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah - Our Dreams
10. Cypress Hill - Armada Latina f/ Pitbull & Marc Anthony
11. Statik Selektah & Termanology - Wedding Bells f/ Jared Evan
12. 7L & Esoteric - 12th Chamber f/ Inspectah Deck
13. NaS - Snitch Alibi
14. Dutch ReBelle - I'm Ill Remix
15. Curren$y - Michael Knight
16. Wale - The War
17. Kno - Spread Your Wings f/ Deacon The Villain
18. Group Home - G.U.R.U. f/ Jeru Tha Damaga
19. DJ Premier - The Gangstar Bus f/ Freddie Foxx
20. BONUS CHRISTMAS TRACK Tha Dogg Pound - Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto
I can always be talked into burning a set or two, so if you'd like one, drop me a line.
For the fifth consecutive year, I made a double disc holiday mix collection for some close friends and family. I do it for two reasons. First, as far back as I can remember, I've loved making mix tapes; compiling the best of what I've been listening to into one handy tape or cd. And I've always loved sharing these mixes with other people, and people seem to enjoy them, which is nice. Second, as I get older, I have less and less time to devote to music. So doing these holiday mixes is kind of like a year-in-review for me. I can dive in in late November, figure out what have been my favorite, and/or the best tracks of the year. I split the mixes into "Underground," which is mostly underground hip-hop, and what I call "Aboveground," which is popular music. On the underground disc it's anything goes, though I try to use actual singles, rather than just picking random tracks I like. On the aboveground mix though, I try to keep it to records that went gold (500k sold) and/or were on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at some point during the year. I'd say I stick to those guidelines about 95% of the time. My only other rule, which I am a fantastic stickler about, is that the song had to come out in 2010. So many songs become popular the year after they are released, and I don't like to include those. If you weren't good enough to get popular right when it came out, well, them's the brakes.
This year, the aboveground mix was pretty hip-hop heavy. Drake and Nicki Minaj were everywhere, and had to be represented. Drake gets on three tracks and Nicki on two, one of their own, with the others being guest shots. Even though he's from Pittsburgh, and the song is about Pittsburgh colors, I loved Wiz Khalifa's "Black & Yellow" for two reasons. One, it's awesome when people pen songs like that about their city, it'd be nice if someone could make a track half as good about Boston ("Dirty Water" is great and all, but it'd be nice to have a newer anthem for the city). Second, black and yellow are the colors of the Boys & Girls Club branch I volunteer at, and all the kids there love the song, which it makes it a little more special to me. One late addition to the mix ended up being a great one - Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How To Dougie." It's easy to discount this as a party jam, but the lyrics on it are actually pretty good. We'll have to see how they follow it up. Another last minute add was Dr. Dre's "Kush," featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon. Let's hope this is the year that Detox finally gets released.
The mix isn't all hip-hop though. I led the mix off with Shakira's "Waka Waka," the World Cup theme song. I figure that we are going to remember this year for the riveting World Cup, and it's such a good song, so it deserved to lead off. Elsewhere, Rihanna made the cut once again with "What's My Name," the fourth straight year she is on the mix - tied for longest streak ever with Jay-Z and Kanye West. I also had to tip my hat to Taylor Swift and throw "Mine" in the mix, something that absolutely shocked my wife. And you know I had to place her song right before Kanye's!
Speaking of Mr. West, he once again scored a song, with "Monster." Kanye is the all-time leader in the aboveground mix, with a total of seven songs. I also considered "Power," "All of the Lights" and "Runaway" for this slot, but "Power" just doesn't have the X-factor, "All of the Lights" wasn't yet a single, and "Runaway" is just too long. Plus, the unanimous verse of the year was Nicki Minaj's verse on "Monster," so I had to have it on there.
Some songs that just missed the cut were Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me," Michael Jackson & Akon's "Hold My Hand," Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It," Trey Songz' "Bottoms Up" and The Roots & John Legend's "Wake Up Everybody." The only tough decision was Flo Rida, and after I saw him perform on New Year's Eve at MTV, I was glad I left him off. He's really just not good. I give him another year or two, tops. MJ I left off because while the song came out in 2010, it was obviously recorded a few years ago. It just didn't feel right to include it.
Here's the track listing for the "Aboveground Mix:"
1. Shakira - Waka Waka
2. B.O.B. - Airplanes f/ Hayley Williams
3. Katy Perry - California Gurls f/ Snoop Dogg
4. Wiz Khalifa - Black & Yellow
5. Waka Flocka Flame - No Hands f/ Wale & Roscoe Dash
6. Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie
7. Taylor Swift - Mine
8. Kanye West - Monster f/ Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver
9. Rihanna - What's My Name f/ Drake
10. Far East Movement - Like A G6
11. Big Boi - Shutterbugg f/ Cutty
12. Cee-Lo - F**k You
13. Drake - Find Your Love
14. Nicki Minaj - Right Thru Me
15. Janelle Monae - Tightrope f/ Big Boi
16. Pitbull - Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor) f/ T-Pain
17. Lloyd Banks - Beamer, Benz or Bentley f/ Juelz Santana
18. Lil' Wayne - Right Above It f/ Drake
19. Dr. Dre - Kush f/ Snoop Dogg & Akon
20. Eminem - Not Afraid
The underground mix can sometimes be a grind for me. Back in the day, I'd just go to Hip Zepi if I was in Boston, or Fat Beats if I was in New York, I would ask the man behind the counter what's hot, drop $20-$80, and I'd have all the latest and greatest on the underground circuit. Easy. Now, you have to comb the internet to really distinguish between what's good and what isn't. I trust a few sites to guide me - Pitchfork and HipHopDX more than any others. But while it can sometimes be a painstaking process, this was not one of those times. I actually had a much easier time of it this year than usual. Maybe I kept up better this year, who knows.
Over the years, I have included about 40% more artists on the underground mix as on the aboveground mix, which makes sense. The people that dominate the pop charts simply don't turn over as quickly. But the mainstays on the underground have been the Wu-Tang. Raekwon has been on the mix every year, and a mix-topping eight times overall. Ghostface Killah has been on six times, good for second-highest, and Method Man a respectable four times as well. They all get on on the same track this year, their group effort "Our Dreams," which was produced by The RZA and featured a Michael Jackson sample.
The mix leads off with Aloe Blacc's "I Need A Dollar," which was the theme song to HBO's summer hit "How To Make It In America." Next up was J. Cole, who we should hear a lot more from in 2011 now that he is signed to Def Jam, with "Who Dat," the one song he currently has that is available for purchase. Next was Lil' Kim's "Black Friday," a diss record referring to Nicki Minaj's LP "Pink Friday." This may have been Nicki's year, but Nicki definitely fed her hype through her beef with Kim, and Kim absolutely slays her on this track. Hopefully this will be a good (but non-violent) beef for awhile.
Overall, the mix had two different vibes. On the one hand, there are three tributes to Keith Elam, better known as Guru from Gangstarr, who passed away this year. That was terrible, and since he's a Bostonian, I had to represent a little bit extra for him. On the other hand, there were several uplifting/lighthearted songs, such as the Wu-Tang track, Maino's "Hold On," Cypress Hill's "Armada Latina," and Statik Selektah's & Termanology's "Wedding Bells." That Massachusetts duo dropped hard in 2010, and hopefully there will be more good things to come from them. Another favorite Mass duo - 7L & Esoteric - finally returned this year, and they did so with Inspectah Deck, who helped bless their first LP nearly ten years ago. Their track, "12th Chamber," is lovely. One more Bostonian who made the cut was newcomer Dutch ReBelle, whose LP also is slated to drop in 2011. I'm excited for that one.
I always try to get one really good transfer on the underground mix, which is difficult when you're just burning these mixes in iTunes, as opposed to using real recording equipment. But in any case, I think I pulled off a good one with the transfer from Wale's "The War" to Kno's "Spread Your Wings." The first time I heard that, I knew it was seamless.
As always, the mix closes with a bonus Christmas track. Since Christmas music usually sucks and is also timeless, I waive the 2010-only rule for this song only. I've already heard rave reviews about this year's track, Tha Dogg Pound's "Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto." It's just a whole lot of awesomeness, if you've never heard it, you should check it out.
Here's the track listing for the underground mix:
1. Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar
2. J. Cole - Who Dat
3. Lil' Kim - Black Friday
4. Jay Electronica - The Ghost of Christopher Wallace f/ Diddy
5. Freddie Gibbs - National Anthem (F**k The World)
6. Fat Joe - I'm Gone
7. Celph Titled & Buckwild - There Will Be Blood f/ Sadat X, Grand Puba, AG, OC & Diamond D
8. Maino - Hold On f/ Mya
9. Method Man, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah - Our Dreams
10. Cypress Hill - Armada Latina f/ Pitbull & Marc Anthony
11. Statik Selektah & Termanology - Wedding Bells f/ Jared Evan
12. 7L & Esoteric - 12th Chamber f/ Inspectah Deck
13. NaS - Snitch Alibi
14. Dutch ReBelle - I'm Ill Remix
15. Curren$y - Michael Knight
16. Wale - The War
17. Kno - Spread Your Wings f/ Deacon The Villain
18. Group Home - G.U.R.U. f/ Jeru Tha Damaga
19. DJ Premier - The Gangstar Bus f/ Freddie Foxx
20. BONUS CHRISTMAS TRACK Tha Dogg Pound - Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto
I can always be talked into burning a set or two, so if you'd like one, drop me a line.
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